


The Dream

by spacedaydreamer



Category: Zero Escape (Video Games), Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma - Fandom
Genre: Gen, bittersweet with a glimmer of hope at the end, post chapter 2 'After||Before', post-escape au drabbles, safe end!junpei au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-09
Updated: 2017-04-09
Packaged: 2018-10-16 20:31:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10578939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spacedaydreamer/pseuds/spacedaydreamer
Summary: Aoi knew that this was his fault. It was undeniably his fault that this had happened to Junpei, and he didn't know what he could possibly do next, other than disappear.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Post-ending of After || Before, Chapter 2: http://archiveofourown.org/works/9859073/chapters/22123421

“Junpei? Junpei, get a grip! Wake up!”

Aoi had rushed forwards when Junpei collapsed, shaking his shoulders, but nothing seemed to get his attention. His eyes were open, but they couldn’t see- they’d glazed over entirely, and it was only his shaky breathing that proved he was even alive.

“Fuck- what the hell? What the _hell_ is going on?!”

Obviously, he received no answer.

It took him a while to move Junpei over to the lift area, his body was far heavier than it looked. By the time they got up, Junpei’s breathing had steadied, but he still wasn’t moving- not even to blink. Aoi’d realized that could be bad, so he shut Junpei’s eyes for him, but the action made his worries grow.

He could only think of one thing that would onset to suddenly, that could cause someone to collapse like that. Junpei had been visibly unstable, and Aoi _knew_ that he was a powerful esper… was it Reverie Syndrome? He desperately hoped not, because if it was, then that meant there was no hope. The only way you could consistently cure Reverie Syndrome was with transmitter/receiver pairs, and the person that Junpei had been most strongly linked to… was Akane.

“…Aoi? Junpei? What’s going on…?”

He was torn from his thoughts by an impossible voice, someone who _couldn’t_ be here, and yet here he was.

Carlos.

“How are you here?”

“I used the transporter… didn’t I tell you guys I’d come to get you?”

Aoi’s hands clenched into fists, and he stormed up to the taller man.

“What the _hell_ are you _talking_ about- you should be _dead! Junpei killed you!_ ”

“N-no… this is… _that_ one…?”

“ _That_ one? What the _fuck_ are you talking about?”

“This history… I made it to the wrong one.”

“Carlos you’re not making any damn sense-“

“This isn’t something I can explain in twenty minutes, Aoi. It might take hours if I wanted to get it right.”

He scowled, but looked down. Junpei was still lying there, deathly still apart from the occasional twitch of a hand.

“You should’ve shown up sooner. If you’d made it here sooner, then _this_ would’ve never happened.”

“H-huh?”

“He’s like this because you died. Because… Because _you_ died, and I decided to run my _stupid fucking mouth_ , he’s like this. And he’ll never wake up.”

“Aoi, what happened?”

“Reverie Syndrome, probably.”

“N-no… but wait, isn’t there a cure? Isn’t it possible to save him-“

“Not Junpei. The person we’d need is dead.”

“That’s… oh god…”

Carlos went visibly paler, looking at Junpei’s unconscious body in horror. Aoi’s fists clenched, and his shoulders shook- what could he do? What could he _possibly_ do? He couldn’t help Junpei at all.

“I… should probably go.”

“Aoi, wait-“

“There’s people I need to wake up. They’re the ones who deserve to know about what happened…”

“What are you talking about?”

“Can you make sure he gets to a hospital? Don’t worry about the cost, I’ll be paying for it.”

“Aoi, answer me-“

“I’ll see you later.”

He needed to leave. The longer he looked at Carlos, the worse he felt- he was _horrible_. He’d gotten angry and yelled at Junpei, he hadn’t even thought before opening his damn mouth, and now Junpei would probably never wake up again.

The trip to Crash Keys HQ was painfully short, because being there meant only one thing: He’d have to wake up Alice and Nona.

He knew that Junpei’d moved in with the Kashiwabaras… how the hell would he be able to explain this to Nona?

In the end, he decided it would be simplest to wake them up, just tell them where Junpei was, and leave it at that. No more words, no explanation, just leave it to Carlos to tell them how he’d basically permanently destroyed Junpei.

Naturally though, things weren’t that simple.

He’d attempted to leave after shoving the paper into her hand, but she’d grabbed onto his arm with an iron grip that was quite surprising for someone who’d been in cold sleep.

“Excuse me, do you think you can just walk out? No way, I want answers.”

“I don’t have anything to tell you.”

“Then what the hell’s this?”

“There’s a guy there. He’ll explain it all for you.”

“Nope, not happening. You’re talking.”

Aoi pinched the bridge of his nose with his free hand, trying not to groan. Had Nona been like this in the nonary game? He honestly couldn’t remember, but he could see that she was _definitely_ Lotus’s kid.

“I don’t need to tell you anything. Just go on and leave.”

“You _kidnap_ us, and now you’re telling us to just _walk out_ and _leave?_ You’re an idiot if you think I’m actually going to listen to you.”

“ _Uuuuugh_ , just _do it_ , why don’t you? I’m not telling you.”

“Don’t be stubborn.”

“Oh, _I’m_ being stubborn? God, you’re a pain.” Aoi was glaring at her, but she clearly didn’t care. Same with Alice, who was staring at him with obvious disdain. “Fine, it’s about Junpei. Now if you give a shit about him, you’ll let me go and just go to that place.”

“What?”

“I said, it’s about Junpe-“

“You’re coming with us.”

“No.”

“I’ll carry you there if I have to. And I’m not joking around, trust me on that one.”

He looked at her- it was clear from her face that she wasn’t joking. He trusted his speed, and he knew that they’d be a bit sluggish from the cold sleep, but it was two against one, and Nona looked _pissed_.

“Ugh. Fine. Whatever.”


	2. Chapter 2

Aoi couldn’t look at the hospital bed, so he was quite grateful for all the people who’d crowded around it. Alice and Carlos were hanging back, but Nona was there- along with Ennea, Hazuki, and Seven, who’d apparently shown up because they’d gotten a feeling something was going wrong.

How right they were.

They were fretting over Junpei, all whispering quietly to each other while Aoi considered trying to walk out the door while nobody was watching. He might’ve been able to get away with it, if it weren’t for Alice, who was watching him like a hawk.

“There’s really no way for him to wake up?”

“Well, it’s unlikely, but not impossible…” Nona was speaking to Carlos, who’d started explaining what he knew about Reverie Syndrome, and his own sister’s symptoms. “Apparently it’s simplest if you work in pairs with siblings like us, as the one of us can sort of help to ‘stabilize’ the other. But with Junpei, he doesn’t have any siblings, and…”

And Akane was dead.

“It’s not impossible that with time, it might fade, though- we’ll just have to hope. He might be able to shake himself out of it if we give him time.”

“He’s never going to wake up.”

“Aoi, you don’t know that-“

“He doesn’t _want_ to wake up.”

That got everyone to look at him- he looked away, picking apathetically at a bit of wax in his ear and pretending as though the truth wasn’t killing him.

“I fucked up, and now he doesn’t want to wake up. He didn’t just slip into a coma, it wasn’t because of any impending event- it happened because he simply lost his grip. It’s not possible for his mind to touch ground anymore, and I don’t think it _wants_ to. He won’t wake up.”

Nobody said anything. Some of them were staring at him, others looking at Junpei or at the ground, but nobody said a word. Aoi figured it was because they all knew better than to argue him on this one.

“Well, can I go now? I’m pretty sure I’ve done _more_ than enough for him-“

“Can I talk to you? In the hall?” Carlos cut him off and dragged him out of the room, not even waiting for a response. “He won’t sleep forever. He’ll wake up, I’m sure of it.”

“Are you a fucking idiot? Did you even _listen_ to me? He _can’t_ wake up, Carlos. He literally _can not wake up_.” He jabbed his finger in Carlos’s direction as he spoke, feeling himself getting angry. “Just face it you idiot, I practically killed him. I hurt him so badly that he decided it’d be nicer to fall asleep and never wake up- no amount of fluffy words or stupid pleasantries will change that.”

“But, he’s not dead. So doesn’t that mean there’s a _chance?_ ”

“You _are_ a fucking idiot, then. Do you honestly think there’s any point in holding onto that chance? You think you can go back in there and tell them all that everything’ll be fine if they just ‘ _believe_ ’ that he’ll be alright? _Do you?_ Well _guess what,_ everything _won’t_ be alright. Sometimes, no matter how much you want it, no matter how good a person is or how much they deserve better, life just decides that they’re getting the short end of the stick. Life decides that it’s time for them to die, time for them to fade away without any hope; and no matter _how fucking hard_ you struggle, no matter _how hard_ you fight, you _can’t_ win. _Some people can’t be saved_.”

“A-Aoi…”

“Junpei is basically dead. Just face the truth, Carlos. He won’t wake up.”

Carlos looked down, and Aoi couldn’t stop glaring at him. Did Carlos think that Aoi didn’t _want_ for Junpei to be alright? Of _course_ he wanted him to be alive! Of _course_ he wanted that, but sometimes, _what you want doesn’t matter!_

“Hey, you’re-“

“Shut up.”

He could feel the beginnings of tears stinging the corner of his eyes, and he blinked them away.

“You know… you could try, couldn’t you?”

“It’d be pointless. My only connection was ever with Akane. I could never transmit or receive with Junpei, it was only her- _she_ was the special one.”

“Don’t you think it’s worth a shot?”

“It won’t ever accomplish anything. Just give up, Carlos.”

“……”

Carlos was looking at him with scrutiny, and Aoi didn’t like it. He hated feeling like he was being judged just for telling the damn truth, and he _hated_ that Carlos _clearly_ wasn’t looking to believe him.

“Fine then, don’t believe me. I’m still leaving.”

“No, you’re not.”

“Do you really think you can stop me?”

“No, but I can promise you that it’ll eat away at you for the rest of your life if you walk away now. I _know_ that this isn’t what you want, Aoi. I _know_ that you care for him, so much that it _hurts_ , and I know that he cares for you too-“

“What the _hell_ would _you_ know about that?!”

“I saw it.”

“Wh-what?”

For the first time, Aoi was completely thrown off-balance.

“In the other history. The two of you talked- instead of playing the AB game, we shifted. You got mad at him for throwing his life away, and he was surprised that you could even care about him. You spent a long time talking, but in the end, even _I_ could tell that you guys cared a lot about each other.”

“Th-that’s-“

“You’ll regret walking away, Aoi. I know it’s not easy, but if you stay, then you’ve got a _chance_. You’re right- he might never wake up. He might stay like that forever; but if you walk away now, then you’re throwing away any chance at ever seeing him wake up. One in a million is better than nothing. Can’t you _see_ that?”

He looked down. Aoi hated to admit it, but Carlos was entirely right. Could he honestly throw away any last chance he had? He’d already lost Akane, he had no living relatives left- could he just walk away from Junpei, too?

No, the more he thought about it, he really couldn’t.

“…Fine.”

Carlos didn’t say anything, but he did give a bit of a tired smile.

“I’m not gonna stay forever, though. Only long enough to prove that I’m right.”

“That’s fine. I’m betting that’s all the time we’ll need to prove that you’re wrong.”

Aoi scowled, but went back into Junpei’s room. He wouldn’t be leaving for a while, now… maybe, someday, he could try to wake him up.

He’d just hope that Junpei could forgive him for everything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is another one that's a bit rough for Aoi, but unlike Absence, there's still a chance at hope for him. I really like the idea of everyone furiously refusing to let him isolate himself again- much like Junpei, he seriously needs support and is in a position where he's not getting any unless they interfere.
> 
> Also, I decided to leave the ending to this one open to interpretation, because even I'm not sure if Junpei would be able to wake up. It's uncertain, and unlikely, but not hopeless- there's always a slim chance he might. In the end, I suppose you can decide whether you think he'd pull through, or if he'll stay asleep forever.
> 
> As usual, thanks for reading! The next fic in this Au is going to be a very big one, and I think it'll be exciting... please look forwards to it.


End file.
